Sunday, February 26, 2017

Sleeping Pad Free and Pee Free, Finally!!!

The view looking back down the road we hiked and ran up into the Los Padres National forest from our home.


     I must say things sometimes seem to be getting better in the incontinence department. Yesterday, Robin, Maggie(our Husky mix), and I went for a late morning 4.5-mile hike/run. We waited for the temperature to get above freezing before we headed out. I was again using my customized Depends pad, and it was full and heavy by the time we were finished. We definitely didn't run hard. I have noticed leakage every time my dog pulls hard on the leash. Also, when going from walk to run, the first few steps bring some leakage. I'm still torn between effort and duration as to what causes a greater incontinence issue. after the run, we showered and headed into Bakersfield to pick up some medication(low dosage Viagra). A stop at the Nike outlet store saw Robin leaving with a new pair of rainbow colored Zoom Pegasus, and me with a new lime green training shirt. I was able to get a partial prescription filled, all they had, then we went to sushi, grocery shopping, and back home. The big news is I was able to sleep all night, dry, and with no pads. I got a sticker. I traded that for a light beer after today's workout.
     Today's workout was a 45-minute run/walk on the treadmill. Since we woke up to freshly fallen snow, I decided to keep the run indoors again. I did 4.2 miles in 45 minutes. I did the run 7 minutes, walk 2 minutes program. It seems to work well for me right now on the treadmill. I have some more big news, at least to me. I was again wearing my customized Depends pad. Only this time, I had very little leakage. Not sure why I didn't leak much, but I was excited. The little things I used to take for granted seem to mean a lot more. These things were taken away, and now I'm getting them back.
     I started doing a pelvic lift, along with my crunches and planks. I lay on the floor, knees bent, feet flat, arms at my side, and lift my butt up as high as I can, and hold for 10 seconds. I rest 10 seconds before doing another, and right now I'm doing 5 at a time. I'm continuing to look for pelvic floor strengthening exercises to help with the incontinence.

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Eight weeks Post Op Prostate Surgery

This is the screen shot of my Garmin 8 weeks and one day post op from my prostate surgery.

    This week marked 8 weeks since my surgery. I seem to be getting better at a quicker pace than I thought I would be. When I was 4 weeks post op, I was happy to top 10,000 steps in a day. Now I'm running 4 miles nonstop after work, and it feels fine doing it. The only real issue I'm having is the incontinence still. It seems to be better when I'm doing nonactive things, but throw in some physical exertion, and the dribbles still happen. I'm still doing the Kegels daily, and with the doctor's permission, I've added stomach crunches this week. One thing I added to my diet in the last 2 weeks is Whey Protein. My theory is the pelvic floor muscle is a muscle, and it is being overworked, so why not add some extra protein to my diet to help it heal? Not sure it will help, but I bought the chocolate flavor, and add it to almond milk, so it's tasty anyway.
     I did encounter a couple of problems with my run yesterday. I forgot my athletic tape to make my custom running depends pad, so I was forced to go redneck, and use gray duct tape. It worked. Of course, the weather was fine all day yesterday until I started my run, then it began to rain. Other than that, the run was fine. Today, I did 45 minutes on the treadmill, running for 7 minutes, walking for 2 minutes, getting in 4.1 miles. I hate running on a treadmill. I have a month until I try to run a 5k race, so I need to train somehow.
     I would like to congratulate Carl Stromberg, a training buddy from the Santa Clarita Running Club. Last weekend at the USATF Masters Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Carl took 1st in the 60-64 age group 3000 meters in a time of 11:36.11.

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Dodging the Rain

The view from today's walk/run.
We got another 3 plus miles in between rain showers, this time I ran a little more on the hills, and did a sprint with my dog. I'm still having the incontinence issues when I run. This week I started on Tofranil to see if that helps. The doctor called it a bridge while things get back to normal, and it would be a couple of weeks before I noticed any improvement because of the drug. I've also searched the web looking for more info on Kegels. This site from New Zealand seemed to explain things really well.
http://www.continence.org.nz/pages/continence-and-prostate/37/

     The good news is my vitals are slowly returning to normal. When I was at the doctors Monday, my blood pressure was back down to 116/77. Pulse is still a little high, it was 65. It could have been nerves. No pain yet from my walk/runs. I'm really looking forward to the day I can run without a time limit because of a full Depends.

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Flatulence While Running After Prostate Removal-Will I Ever Be Able To Fart Again?

    One thing I realized early on after my catheter was removed was any sudden bodily function or movement caused me to pee myself. This included sneezing, coughing, sitting down, standing up, etc. This also includes the simple act of passing gas, aka farting. Everyone knows that when we are running, we have a tendency to pass gas. If I relax my sphincter to let one loose, I pee myself. Now I would never do that in a group run, we all know there are certain unwritten rules while running in a mixed group. If one has gas, drop back, let it out, then run hard and catch back up. Sort of a fartlek workout based on farting. This must be where the Swedes came up with their speed play game back in the 1930's. I was thinking of this yesterday, out for my first run by myself on the streets, and I couldn't pass gas, or I would pee myself. Chuck, if you read this, you were right. I also pee myself while blowing my nose when running, aka the snot rocket. These issues will further complicate my recovery speed, as farting and snot rockets are 2 of the male pleasures when it comes to running. I'm sure women don't face these problems, as white doves come and carry away any unpleasant body gasses or fluids they may have.

     I did manage 2.5 miles yesterday on the roads in 25 minutes, and 3.6 miles in 40 minutes on the treadmill tonight, still peeing myself and still wearing my customized pads.

Monday, February 13, 2017

First Post Op PSA Test

Whoo Hoo. The number in the picture says it all. Thanks Trevor and Andrea for celebrating with us!!!!

Sunday, February 12, 2017

First 5k post surgery 👍

Posing with robin before the start of the Valentine's Day 5k in Bakersfield, CA

      Well, the rain subsided just in time for Valentine's 5k run in Bakersfield. I talked Robin into doing the race in a run 5 minutes, walk 2 minutes format, at her pace. The run seemed easy to me, I talked to Robin most of the way, she grunted in return. I had no issues physically, just the ever present dribbling of urine, which intensifies when running. My customized pad worked fairly well, no chafing between the legs, although it was full when we were done. Our time was 42 minutes. Last year I did the same race in 20:57, so this was much slower and easier for me, but the time was 5 minutes faster for Robin. We gave Aden a ride there, and he finished 5th overall, so we waited around for the cool custom heart medal he got. It was made out of glass. Afterward, we headed to Lengthwise Brewing Company with Trevor, Andrea, and their kids, and grandkids for some lunch. I went all in and had my first beer since the surgery. I asked for the lightest beer they had and sipped slowly on a cream ale. We all had too much to eat, and headed home, with a quick stop at Winco for more food.

Today, I feel fine, Robin's a little stiff from her effort. We went out for a walk, 3.75 miles. I ran a little bit. It took us 1:13 to finish, but there were over 700 feet of climbing. My pad was full again. It felt like it was leaking towards the end, but it could have been sweat from the spandex shorts I was wearing. Tomorrow is the big day. I find out the results of the blood test.

Friday, February 10, 2017

Custom Incontinence Pads

Okay, so this is the result of my second attempt at customizing my Depends pads. The first time didn't work too well.

    On the left of the picture is a Depends for Men Shield. It is light absorbency. On the right is my current go to pad, It's a Depend for Men Guard, maximum absorbency. The problem with the light one, it's too thin for my leaking at this time when I run/walk. The one on the right is too big and bulky, especially the part that hangs between my legs. It rubs, causes chafing, not good. Like Goldilocks, I needed something just right. What I did is cut the top off one of the Guards, and moved the pad up just enough so that I don't have the rubbing, but I still get maximum protection that I need at this time. that's the one in the middle of the picture. The first time I did this, Wednesday night, I cut the top off, put the Guard in, and took off walking and running easily on the treadmill. I decided to run during a rerun of the Big Bang Theory, walking during commercials. Too many commercials, I only managed just over 2 miles in 30 minutes. The bad part was my genitals became covered in little cotton balls. Not so good. Thursday night, I tried again. this time I cut a little more off the top, then sealed it with athletic tape. This time I ran for 5 minutes, walked for 2, for a 35-minute workout. My running pace was an easy 10 minutes per mile, I'm really trying to not to do too much too soon. This pad was much more comfortable. I deemed this experiment and workout a success. I will continue this experiment tomorrow, rain or shine, at the Valentine's 5k in Bakersfield.

Thursday, February 9, 2017

Peeing Bloody Scabs

    I continued to improve, some bladder control was coming back. On January 28th, I did 45 minutes walking on the treadmill, nonstop. I was excited. It didn't hurt too much, I was still having trouble standing up straight. On the 29, I had a little blood in my urine. Next thing, out comes this bloody scab. It didn't hurt, but I could feel it. Immediately, my urine cleared up. About 2 hours later, the same thing happened. I got a little scared and decided to rest, no treadmill that day. Before the day was over, I passed a total of 4 scabs. Monday, I was fine, urine clear. Tuesday, I passed 5, and Wednesday 4 more. Each time it was the same story, discolored urine, followed by a scab flying into the toilet. By now I had gotten used to it, the shock value had disappeared. I did manage to walk 30 minutes Wednesday night on the treadmill, the 1st since the previous Saturday. Thursday, I skipped the treadmill, as I had my 1st PSA blood test Friday morning. Now it's nervous time as I won't get the results until February 13th.

Monday, February 6, 2017

Walking with and without a Catheter

This picture was taken on January 1st. Note the fuzzy slippers, and the catheter dangling near my left knee.

       The blue bag in front of my knee was tied to the treadmill and held my urine collection. When I first got home, my treadmill didn't go slow enough for me, so I just walked around the house until I felt like I could get .5 mph without falling. I use a Garmin 225 watch to track my workouts and races, and now it was counting steps for me. This was the 1st day on the treadmill, and I topped 1000 steps. The next day, it was 1700 steps. On the 3rd, I topped 2000 steps. The hard part was standing up straight. My abdomen was really tight. A week later, with the catheter out for a day, I topped 4000 steps. I was also upping the pace slowly. The downside to having the catheter out was peeing myself. The 1st week I did go through some extra diapers when walking. As time went on this slowly got better, relieving some of the frustration from the first couple of weeks. On January 24th, 4 weeks after surgery, I topped 10,000 steps and was down to 2 pads in a 24 hour period. I felt like there was light at the end of the tunnel. I still hadn't walked outside, or up and down hills. I was trying to wait for 6 weeks out from the date of the surgery to start running slowly. The time for that was getting closer. I was still peeing myself when I sneezed, stood up, put on shoes, etc, but walking, sitting, and sleeping was much better than before.

Sunday, February 5, 2017

The Da Vinci Xi

On October 5, 2016, Kern Medical Center had an open house to show off the Da Vinci robotic surgical machine.

     I left work early that day and got to check out this cool machine. I also got to talk to all 3 doctors involved in the urology department. This went a long way to putting my mind at ease over my upcoming decision. Doctors Nalesnik, Hillyer, and Trang answered all of my questions. Thank you.

Prostate Biopsy Machine

The dreaded Prostate Biopsy machine, complete with probe, ready to go!!!!!

Saturday, February 4, 2017

Getting Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer

     I guess I should begin this blog with a little back story. I began running my sophomore year of high school, in 1975. I have been running pretty much ever since, in one form or another. I won't delve into details of my running or medical past prior to the prostate cancer unless it becomes pertinent along the way.
     On November 23, 2015, I had a blood test done at the request of my doctor as part of my normal physical. When I went into the doctor's office to get my results, she said she had good news and bad news. The good news was I had perfect results for my age except for one thing. My PSA was high. The number was 9.674. The doctor went through a series of symptoms, I said no to all of them. She suggested I do a second blood test to verify the findings. When I got home, I looked up what PSA was, and what could make it higher than normal. I adjusted my diet(less red meat, more fruits, and veggies), and started drinking pomegranate juice. On February 24, 2016, I had a second blood test. I went in and got the results. My PSA had dropped to 7.5. The doctor saw this as encouraging, so told me to have a 3rd test in another 60 days to see if the trend continued. Unfortunately, my PSA went back up to 8.4. This time she suggested I see a urologist. The doctor's office recommended one, but when I hadn't heard anything for 6 weeks, I called the office and requested a different urologist. This time I got to make an appointment with Dr. Nalesnik. By this time it was August. I went in, fully expecting to get the one finger wave. Instead, he said based on my PSA numbers, I needed a biopsy. he made sure I knew there was about a 70% chance I didn't have cancer. I made the appointment for mid-September.
     Now I know how people abducted by aliens feel. Thankfully the numbing gel worked great before the probe and 12 needles went in. 10 days later I ran a 5k, it was a little painful in the second half. I slowed, but still finished in 20:15. When I went in for the results of the biopsy, I took my wife Robin, just as I had for the biopsy. Dr. Nalesnik gave us the news that the biopsy had come back positive for cancer. One percent of the core on the right side, and four percent of the core on the left side tested positive, and my Gleason score was 3+3. The doctor spent over 30 minutes explaining our options, and we scheduled an appointment in 3 weeks to plan my treatment.
     I decided to take this time and learn as much as I could about prostate cancer and the options I had. I read the Dr. Walsh book in one weekend. I read the book called Outsmarting your Cancer that is mostly about natural cures. I also interviewed guys I knew or heard of, that had gone through prostate cancer treatments. This was the best thing I did, and I highly recommend it to anyone facing the same options. I spoke or texted with Doug, Chuck, Tom, Don, Dave, Tim, Mark, Ben, and Andy. Most of them had surgery. One had HIFU, one had cryotherapy, and one had radiation. One had been through surgery in 2004, radiation in 2006, and was now going through chemotherapy. All said they were satisfied with the choices they had made. After doing this, and talking it over with my wife, we decided to have Dr. Nalesnik and his team perform DA Vince surgery. When we went back to the doctor's office, we informed them of our decision, and a surgery date of December 27, 2016, was set. In the meantime, I started doing Kegels. This would make the return to normal continence easier after surgery.
     I aced my pre-op on December 22nd, so fast forward to the 27th. We got to the hospital, Kern Medical Center, on time, 5:45 a.m. Walked into the surgery waiting room and went right in. Blood pressure was high, but my pulse was only 56. Undressed and into the backless gown I went. The pre-op nurses were great. Robin came in after the IV was in. I remember meeting the doctor and his team. The anesthesiologist was a fellow red-headed runner. She said there would be no problems with me. I remember getting the happy juice before being wheeled into surgery. The room looked like a cool workshop with a surgical robot in the middle.The next thing I knew I was waking up, and the clock on the wall said 1. I think I slept again until 2. That's when I remember talking with my doctor and his assistant. My prostate was officially gone. He said it went well. It did not appear the cancer had left the prostate.He said my nerve bundles moved away from the sides easily, hopefully E.D. won't be an issue. The 2 months prior to surgery I had done my kegels 5 days a week, building up to over a hundred a day, and the doctor said my schpincter was textbook. Hopefully incontinence wont be long. I laid in the recovery room waiting for a bed in a real room. Other patients came and went. Robin started getting upset. She didn't want to leave until I was in a room. She was getting really tired, so I got her to leave at 7:30. I didn't care if I was in a room, I felt good. Finally, at 9:30, I was wheeled to a room. Before I left I asked the nurse to call my house and relay the room number to Robin, and ask her to bring a pillow for my lap for the ride home the next day. One thing that the doctor stressed was keeping my catheter and urine bag safe. He told me to treat it like a briefcase full of a million dollars worth of jewels. First thing that happens to me in my new room is a nurse catches my urine bag on a chair she was trying to scoot out of the way. It was not a quiet scream I let out, and the bag was safe. I had the nurse turn on my light, and I started reading. My new roommate was snoring or coughing into a bowl, so I didn't sleep much. At 5 a.m. I got checked out, and blood taken. At 7 a.m. the doctor comes in, says my blood was fine. I can go home after I walk, fart, burp, and Robin picks up my prescriptions. Robin shows up feeling much better than when she went home. Sleep is awesome. Robin went to get the prescriptions, PT showed up and I went for a walk. PT guy got his degree at UC Davis. To the red mark on the hallway wall and back we walked. I passed the PT test. Almost done. Robin came back. The pharmacy was short on 2 of the prescriptions. Told her to come back Saturday morning to get the rest. Nurse practitioner Shiva was next. She changed the dressing under my girdle/bandage, and hooked my catheter up to a travel bag. She gave us extra bags and other wonderful stuff to take home, including her cell number in case I had any problems. Two lunches come for me, one liquid, and one Chinese. I nibble at the Chinese food, anxious to leave. One of my nurses came in to check something, and we're asking when I can leave. She leaves, comes back to say the doctor forgot to sign the patient release after it was filled out. First I couldn't get in a room, now I can't get out. 1 1/2 hours later, signature is obtained, and I'm wheeled out, prostate free. The ride home was uneventful, save for some potholes and sharp turns.
     Being home brought me face to face with Maggie, our Husky mix. Luckily she was understanding, and just laid at my feet. Now that I was home, it was time to start my home meds, take short walks, and sleep. We made a bed out of the recliner. For the next 13 days my life would be based out of that recliner. It was easy to hang the urine bag from, and I could watch bad T.V. to my hearts content. All that changed about 2:00 a.m. Thursday morning. I woke up and started vomiting. Not a pleasant thing after abdominal surgery. This woke Robin, my wonder nurse. She was kind enough to empty the bowl I had used, and gave me one of the anti nausea pills the doctor had prescribed. Needless to say I had lost my appreciation for clam chowder and Gatorade. Thinking the pain pill caused the vomiting, I quit taking them, and switched to extra strength Tylenol, continuing the antibiotics that were prescribed. Later that morning, after the sun had risen, I resumed the vomiting, and threw some diarrhea in just for fun. Still, the anti nausea pills weren't working. Robin re read the pages of info that came with the prescriptions. The antibiotics papers said it(septra-ds) could cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. I quit taking them, and soon felt better. It was late Thursday, and lucky for us, nurse practitioner Shiva had given us her cell number in case we had any issues since we lived so far away. She told us to stop the drug, and she called in a different prescription to the pharmacy. Friday, December 30th, Robin headed back to Bakersfield to pick up my new antibiotics prescription, along with the remainder of the prescriptions that weren't ready when I checked out. When she got to the pharmacy, it was closed. Again she looked up Shiva, who called in the prescription to a different pharmacy. Only catch, we would have to pay out of pocket for the prescriptions since the pharmacy that was closed had already billed the insurance company. A couple hours, and one chick-fil-a sandwich later she was headed home. The new antibiotics were Keflex. The bottle said to take 4 a day, so I got 2 in me before bedtime. No nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea. Life with a catheter just got a little better. On the 31st I was able to walk almost 200 steps, and get closer to standing up straight again. I had pain in my lower right abdomen, especially when I coughed. New Year's eve, my catheter and I were asleep by 9. The next day was 2017. It was a beak from college football bowl games, there were pro games.
     The new year also brought a new problem. I was getting a rash in spots on my upper torso. By January 2nd, my rash had spread. We called the doctor, and I was told to quit taking the Keflex. The good thing is I was up to over 800 steps on the treadmill. Life was getting better. January 3rd saw the return of daycare, and Robin driving back to Bakersfield after daycare to get the rest of my prescriptions. My walking on the treadmill continued to improve. January 4th I topped 2400 steps. The walking got easier. I had a canvas bag attached to the treadmill handle I put the Foley bag in. The 5th saw me hit 2700 steps. I was also feeling tired. I didn't do the steps non stop. I worked up to 10 minutes straight, and walked every couple of hours. Walking also seemed to help get the bowels moving. January 9th couldn't get here fast enough. That was when the catheter would be removed, and I would get the results of my pathology test of my prostate after it was removed. On the 9th I hooked the travel bag to the catheter, and off we went to the hospital. Originally, my appointment was at the doctor's office, but before I was discharged from the hospital, the doctor told me to come to the hospital instead, as he would be working there that day, and he would take care of changing the appointment.
     When we arrived and checked in, we found out that something had fallen through the cracks, as the nurse insisted that we were at the wrong place. After some phone calls and discussion, it was decided we were at the right place. I didn't have to wait to long before being called into an exam room. This was the smallest exam room I have ever seen.It was obviously built before America got fat. The doctor came in and gave me the news. The pathology report showed my cancer was more aggressive than the biopsy had shown. The Gleason score was moved up to 4+3 from 3+3. The cancer was only in 10% of the prostate, but it was all near the bladder, and it had reached the edge of the prostate. I had a positive margin. The pathology report on the lymph nodes came back cancer free. My decision to have the prostate removed turned out to be the right one as far as I'm concerned. With the pleasantries over, it was time for fun. First the removal of the 16 staples in 4 of my incisions. It wasn't too painful or ticklish. Next up the removal of the catheter. First the balloon inside the bladder was drained, then out came the catheter. Not too painful either, but also not the most fun thing that's happened to my penis. Immediately I dribbled urine before I could get my diaper on. I decided to start with diapers instead of pads because I didn't know what to expect. Especially since we had a 50 minute drive home. Every move I made, I peed myself. No matter how hard I tried, pee just came out, like I still had the catheter. The doctor wanted to see me again on February 13th, so we made the appointment with the nurse. He also wants me to have a blood test for PSA the week before, I will do that near home, and bring the results with me. Robin got us to the car, and off we went to the 24th street Cafe. This was a Fantastic little cafe in Bakersfield near the hospital. I had eggs and fried green tomatoes. They were awesome. For the first time in 2 weeks I got behind the wheel and drove us home, dribbling on myself all the way, The diaper was the right choice for me. I went to work the next day, and I work standing up and walking a lot. This meant I was peeing myself constantly. I think the first day I went through 2 diapers in 7 hours. I did build a Subaru head between trips to the bathroom. My problem was I couldn't get my bladder to store any urine. As fast as I drank water, I peed myself every time I moved. By the time I got to the bathroom there was nothing left to pee into the toilet. Soon I discovered that if I sat down, I could keep some liquid in me, and if I was lucky, waddle to the bathroom and pee into the toilet. I say waddle because I was trying to walk and do a kegel at the same time so I wouldn't pee myself. This was very frustrating for me. I knew that I would be incontinent for a while, but it seemed to me I was peeing more than dribbling. I did a little  research on the Internet, and I learned that the bladder, while I had the catheter in, no longer functioned like it used to. It wasn't filling up, then telling me it was time to find a place to empty. It just had the tap open, and out ran the fluids. This seemed to me to be similar to muscles that haven't been used, and have to get back into shape. Since I could sit, and retain fluids better than standing, I started drinking more fluids when I sat. My theory was my bladder had shrunk due to not being used normally, so if I could drink fluids in a sitting position without constantly peeing, it should stretch out some. By the time the weekend came, I had a plan. I was going to sit and drink water. First I slept 11 hours straight after my 4 days of work. I quickly learned that I could sit for 2 hours, drinking water, not pee myself, and make it to the toilet with hardly a dribble. All this time I had also restarted my kegel exercises. In fact, I did so many kegels it hurt to sit down. Feeling encouraged by my ability to sit and not pee, I decided to switch from diapers to pads. Maximum absorption Depends. I wore the pads for the first time over night on Saturday. I only dribbled a little, and woke up twice to pee. So sitting and sleeping were getting better as far as incontinence went. When I was on my feet, I was still frustrated by the dribbling. My time on the treadmill went to 30 minutes walking nonstop at 2.5 mph, but I had to change my pad as soon as I was done. The 1st weekend without the catheter I did 30 minutes each day on the treadmill, not wanting to over do my walking like I had with my kegels. Monday, January 16th, I went back to work in a pad, not a diaper.